Startup entrepreneurs usually have a hard time marketing their product or service. Search engine optimization is the least of their concerns — after all, why would you worry about keywords and link building when you have a lot of other things about which to think.

Unfortunately, this is a misconception. It does not matter how edgy or innovative your product or service is; as long as nobody knows that you exist, your business will surely backfire.

Instead of totally dismissing the potential benefit involved in hiring an SEO company, try implementing any of the following tips in your marketing plan, make an evaluation at the end and try to ask yourself, ‘Does my business really need an SEO service?’

Identify Your Target Keywords

This should include phrases that your potential customers will type in search engines and that are not too competitive for your site. Once you have identified this, integrate it into the key areas of your site like page title, heading tags, and your content. You can research your target keywords by downloading the Keyword Research Tool from Google.

Create Your Brand

It is important to start your branding process as early as possible, because Google loves brands. Branded elements are a reliable metric to indicate viewer’s satisfaction. From the beginning, establish your company’s logo, color scheme, tagline and promotional phrasing and consistently incorporate these across your online presence. You can hire a graphic designer or a consultant if you are not confident with coming up a cohesive overall look for your brand.

Spotlight Your Content

Running a company blog is very advantageous for small businesses for two major reasons: first, regular content updates increase the number of different keywords presents in your site. Improved keyword exposure earns free SEO traffic via organic search phrases. Second, putting valuable content in your site is one way of building relationships with your potential customers as well as authority in your industry.

Join Social Networking

Search engines acknowledge social signals like link shares and brand mentions in social networking channels. Allot 10-20 minutes each day to post updates or interact with your business’ followers. This platform has been proclaimed by Google as its new standard in recognizing a site. That is why SEO in the Philippines and in other countries employ this as a primary tool in optimizing a site.

Connect with Power Users

It is a good idea to be “friends” with power users in social media channels not only because the authority of these participants is recognized by search engines but also because a single mention or a link share from one of these “influencers” could result in massive traffic for your site. To identify power users with whom you wish to connect, do a quick analysis of the number of followers they have and their level of authority in the industry.

Install Google Analytics

This is a tool to measure and test different metrics for your site. It is free and can be downloaded from Google. It provides useful information that you can use to improve your site’s conversion rates.

Setup Your Google Analytics Goals

Once you’ve installed Google Analytics, take the time to develop your website goals and setup the needed event tracking features to know how well your website is doing.

Devote Time in Link Building Campaigns

Link building is the process of getting other websites to point links to your content. The quality and relevance of the links pointing to your site are prioritized in the search engine algorithms. It is worthwhile to invest in link building campaigns because it accounts for 50-80% of your SEO score.

Try Guest Posting

As a guest author on other websites, you provide a guest blog post with links pointing to your site. Through guest posting on credible sites, you will receive high-quality and relevant backlinks as well as increased traffic due to the perceived “recommendation” of your content by the referring site’s creator.

Write and Submit Press Releases

When your company introduces a new product or lands a new account, write an aggressive press release and send it through a PR distribution service. Site promotion through press releases has the potential to both boost traffic and backlinks.